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Solm’s palace has to be the most beautiful he’s ever been in, but it never feels too stuffy. Maybe because so much of it is open to the sun and the occasional lizard, or maybe just because its last queens were a lot like Seforia, who greets him alone with a wave. She’s standing in the middle of the throne room, where Ike always has the dumb urge to float up and smack that big round chandelier.
All these millennia later, Sanaki’s voice rings in his ears, telling him to kneel, you impetuous oaf. Easier said than done these days, but he inclines his head.
“So you’re the one who was in our ring,” Seforia says.
“You have my thanks for keeping it safe.”
“That was mostly my children. They barely update me on their plans. You know I had to find out about Fogado’s last stowaway debacle from my spies?”
Ike has no idea what to say to that.
“You lot do seem easier to deal with than most royals,” he tries. She straightens, sizing him up. Uh oh.
“You were a mercenary, right? Worked with a lot of royalty, I’ll gather. I can’t imagine you lasted long, speaking to them like that.”
He scratches his neck, always a weird sensation, since he doesn’t technically have a hand or a neck. “Sorry. Not exactly sure what passes for manners here since a thousand years ago. How should I be talking to you?”
She studies him before softening with a little laugh. “I was just teasing. Talk however you like. You Emblems aren’t really here for your manners, are you?”
She glances at his bicep while he tries to catch up. Again, Sanaki comes to mind. Maybe it’s the sparkle in those strange Solmic royal eyes. If Sanaki had known that was an option, she would’ve demanded the Goddess give them to the apostles.
Like he does every millennium, Ike thinks about how ironic it is that a prayer summoned him. (Made him? Huh. Soren would know.)
“No, I’m here to help fight Sombron. Though I wouldn’t mind dealing with your bandit problem. Put me to work however you want.”
“You know, Ike, I think you and Timerra are going to get along great. I’m glad it was you in our ring.”
“She’s definitely one tough cookie,” he says, and she laughs again, though as usual, he wasn’t joking.
Timerra and her friends sing at the Somniel’s campsite. A few other allies chat around the tents, sometimes giving her funny looks. Her songs are pretty weird, but who is Ike to judge an artist?
Fogado lounges apart from the others in the grass, looking comfortable, while Ike floats beside him. For a second, he almost expects a cat tail to wiggle behind Fogado. It would be hard to explain why.
He turns his attention again to Timerra. Flowers dot the grass at her feet, and light reflects off the pond behind her, bringing a different tune to mind. A different voice.
Ike doesn’t know how Emblems can hurt, but he does, sometimes.
(If he could carry a tune, he’d share Lillia’s galdr with her. Not that there’s a reason to safeguard it now. Still, he thinks she’d like it.)
“Say, Ike, you travelled a lot, right?” Fogado asks.
“Yeah. I went all around the continent, then way beyond it.”
Fogado whistles. “Lucky. I never feel like I can stray far from Solm, you know? Present circumstances excluded.” He pats the ground of the Somniel. “It must be fun to meet so many new people.”
“Sure. It’s nice not having a reputation.”
“Right? That’s why I’m always going around incognito.” The concert ends, and Fogado claps. Ike starts to clap before remembering it won’t make noise. “So, what kind of people did you meet?”
“Well, there’s assholes everywhere, but there’s good folks everywhere, too. I guess some things never change. I was always looking for places that treated everyone like equals.”
“Good thing you ended up in Solm, then.”
Ike smiles, both because it’s true, and because he likes thinking of Solm as just another stop on his journey.
Fogado looks again at Timerra, who’s decided for herself that she deserves an encore. His expression is both soft and tense in a way Ike recognizes.
He’s overheard them talk about Fogado’s traveling, how he does it to protect Timerra. The Somniel is supposed to be safe from every threat, but Ike has a hard time relaxing into that idea, and he gets the feeling Fogado does, too. Just like he gets the feeling that being up in the clouds hasn’t satisfied Fogado’s wanderlust.
Ike crosses his arms and speaks even more quietly than normal. “Traveling is great and all, but if you want to protect her, you have to stay close. If you can’t, you have to trust her to take care of herself.”
That tail Ike imagined would probably twitch before drooping. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
After the encore, Fogado starts another round of clapping. Ike forgets again that he can’t join in.
It’s not common to find Timerra off by herself, let alone sulking. She’s standing on the lookout point, staring out at nothing, when he floats up.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. She startles and turns to face him, her hands on her hips.
“Ike! Just admiring the view. Isn’t it wild that we’re so far up?”
The sky is pretty, sure, but less so without a sunset or stars or wyverns or…anything.
“You don’t have to force yourself. I won’t mind. I’m not exactly known for my good cheer,” he says.
Her smile falls a bit. “Well, I think you’re super nice.”
“Thanks. So, what’s on your mind?”
She sighs and rubs her head. “It’s just…you must’ve worked with a lot of royals, right? Or at least met them?”
“Not sure what you’re getting at, but yeah.”
She stares at her hands. They’re almost as rough as his, but they look small and lost without a lance or skewer. She wasn’t made to stand around without poking at anything.
“Were any of them like me?”
Her voice is small and lost, too, without a song in it.
“In what way?” he asks.
“You know. Did they camp out and sing and fight bandits?”
“I mean, not usually. But it really depended.”
She looks up at him. “Oh? Some of them did, then?”
“What brought this on? You’re not the type to compare yourself to others.”
Usually, she cares as little about what others think as he does. It’s common for her to treat everything she does as obvious when it isn’t to anyone else, and he relates. Even if he doesn’t have her energy.
“This is my first time really meeting the other countries’ royals,” she says. “Some of them even have to inherit the throne sooner than expected. It’s got me wondering if I’ll be a good queen.”
He puts a hand on his chin, which he’s still surprised to find never grows stubble. “I told you about Queen Elincia, right?”
“Yeah! Your friend who hired you to take back her country, and then she stopped those insurrectionists.” Timerra pumps her fist in the air like it’s something she can actively cheer on.
“Actually, she never expected to lead. Her birth was a secret, so she was raised in the countryside. She grew up pretty much like a normal girl. Well, one with money.”
“Really? How’d she learn to be queen, then?”
“She had to travel incognito for a while. It let her get to know the people she was going to lead.”
“That’s what I’m always saying! You have to understand people to protect them.” She looks eagerly up at him, but her voice goes small again. “And she was a good queen, right?”
“Definitely,” he says. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
She pats his forearm before jerking her hand back from the sparks. “I wasn’t really worried. But thanks. I know you wouldn’t lie just to make me feel better.”
“Not that I’d want to make you feel worse, but yeah, lying’s not my thing.”
“I can respect it. You know, I’m glad you were the one in my ring.”
It suddenly seems silly to compare her to people worlds away when she’s right in front of him, her stance as strong as her mother’s.
“Me, too.”